Valve has revealed the place of The International 9 the next DOTA 2 world championship

After team OG won in The International 8 in Vancouver, Canada this year, Valve has revealed where its next Dota 2 world championship The International 9 (TI9) will be taking place.

Shanghai, China was announced as the location of The International 9. This is rather unconventional for Valve, which has historically been very secretive with revealing the locations of the tournament series.

Valve’s selection of China as a host for The International is not surprising. The country is one of the major global hubs of competitive Dota 2, with some of the best players and teams in the game for the past 10 years heralding from the country. Additionally, Shanghai has rapidly become one of China’s largest esports hubs in the past two years, with the city hosting multiple esports events per year.

Aside from the inaugural International event at the 2011 edition of the Gamescom expo in Germany, the past six iterations of the tournament series took place on Valve’s home turf in Seattle. The International 8 is the first event of the series in six years to move outside of the U.S.

No dates for The International 9 have been revealed until now.